Corey and Nigel are joined by WES editor Dave Naylor and WES news editor Dan Taylor to discuss all things Alberta politics, including the latest poll numbers on the Alberta PCs and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.
00:04:10.560I will say, it doesn't matter what the issue is, Premier Smith seems very, very well briefed and very informed on the topic,
00:04:17.760whether it's health care, electricity, Ukrainian refugees, whatever it is.
00:04:23.020She's read the file, and she knows what she's talking about.
00:04:25.780I don't think I can remember her being unprepared for a question at a press conference.
00:04:32.040She's always got answers right on the top of her mind.
00:04:34.800Well, you've got to remember that the Premier is somebody who would rather read a policy brief
00:04:39.920before she goes to sleep at night than a novel.
00:04:43.060You know, I mean, she eats and drinks this stuff, always has.
00:04:47.460So I'm not surprised to find that she's very, very well briefed.
00:04:50.860Well, she has been blessed for a while too, though, with an NDP. That's, you know, leaderless effectively. I mean, Rachel Notley is still hanging in there till the new leader comes in. But once they announced they become lame duck. And it does give an advantage to the government when you don't have a an established person. I mean, as you said, we will, it remains to be seen. But whether it's the head and itchy or maybe old Gil, if it keeps things exciting enough or, or somebody else, but there will be a figure at least to stand and critique and focus on being an effective opposition.
00:05:20.860perhaps for the UCP. So, I mean, this might be reflected a bit of having a weak opposition
00:05:26.080rather than a strong government at this time. Sorry, I'm just going to say that,
00:05:31.420you know, the Nenshi train seems to be picking up steam. Hailed a rally in Edmonton last night.
00:05:39.4601,200 people showed up in Edmonton for a rally. And, you know, he knows how to play to the crowd.
00:05:45.960You know, he went backstage and came out and, you know, held up an Oilers jersey and said, you know, this is his team.
00:07:28.320But people are giving her credit for that as well.
00:07:31.180Well, it's just following the lead that a lot of progressive European nations have already been doing, whether in the UK or Sweden, I believe Finland, again, they've all been saying, we're getting a little too far with the kids, leave it until they're 18.
00:07:42.540I mean, and most people agree, despite the hysteria we hear from legacy media and activists over this, yeah, if Premier Smith truly was out to get trans children and harm them, it would have been reflected in the polls and certainly didn't.
00:07:56.560And I'm kind of surprised no other premiers have done the same thing.
00:08:00.700You know, you look at Doug Ford in Ontario,
00:08:03.280and he took a step back and wants nothing to do with it.
00:08:07.640You know, I think the mainstream media-driven hysteria
00:08:12.140has now sort of gone away, and the dust has settled,
00:08:15.920and people can realize, you know what, hey,
00:10:57.260And you're right, Corey, there's a lot, you know, certainly in my small circle of friends, there's no love lost for Nahed Nenshi.
00:11:06.860So, you know, he's got some work to do.
00:11:08.940Did you hear the rumor that was going around that they've actually got a psychiatrist on the Nenshi team just so everybody plays nicely together?
00:11:15.620Well, maybe he got the same one as what he had in City Hall.
00:14:45.440Premier confirmed it at a press conference today.
00:14:48.540She basically said that, you know, it's up to Edmonton.
00:14:52.160They're waiting for a phone call from Mayor Sohi.
00:14:54.320They were, you know, she said, we're willing to help.
00:14:57.520Municipal Affairs Minister Rick McIver, willing to help.
00:15:00.880But apparently there will be a letter sent at some point on Wednesday to McIver outlining concerns.
00:15:07.740There were questions about fraud and bullying.
00:15:12.740And a legislature source told me that the economic situation in Edmonton is pretty grim in terms of money mismanagement and how much money they have online.
00:15:25.760So, Premier Smith confirmed they're going to move in if need be, and they're just waiting for the call.
00:18:27.200Municipal governments, though, they're actually controlled by, and they are an arm of the provincial government.
00:18:32.880They can step in at will and change things in those.
00:18:36.460They don't have the autonomy that other levels of government would.
00:18:39.160So, I mean, not that the provincial government would be eager to step in, but they do have the authority to if they have to.
00:18:44.340Or if they must. Yeah, that's right. You know, maybe we should have expected that something was more seriously wrong in Edmonton than we ever suspected. Just by some of the news stories that have come out of Edmonton. I'm thinking of the homeless camps and the, you know, the parlous state of affairs.
00:19:14.480I mean, these are major civic issues, and they don't seem to be able to get a grasp on it.
00:19:17.900Well, and just the general tone of the place, the homelessness and how that translates into a public safety threat on the transit or even just walking down the street.
00:19:29.660Sometimes wokeism actually is the thing that kills itself because you just can't make it work.
00:19:37.140Premier Smith was asked about Medicine Hat.
00:19:39.840Why aren't you intervening in Medicine Hat?
00:19:57.080There's no real urgency for us to get in because there's no financial crises, which, again, leads more to the fact that perhaps Edmonton is about to announce one.
00:20:07.560Well, and that's going to be interesting to watch. I mean, I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes up because cities are more constrained.
00:20:12.360They can't run deficit budgets like other levels of government can. There's ways they work around it.
00:20:17.080I know Calgary likes dumping its debt on their crown corporation, and they also find ways that they can issue bonds that can, you know, get them a workaround for debt.
00:20:26.700but still they're pretty limited. They can't borrow uncontrollably like provincial and federal
00:20:31.160governments do. So it's going to be interesting to see how Edmonton or what's so dire that they
00:20:35.820did with their finances then that they can't. That's going to be interesting to see.
00:20:41.120You're now back on course. Yes, back to Ottawa, the other land of the loons.
00:20:45.840The Sound of Silence is the title on this. We've got a couple of parts and we're talking
00:22:05.660So they don't get the Finance Committee, but they get a lower committee.
00:22:09.680So April Fool, April Fool's on all of us, suggest you all fill up your gas tanks on March 31st, drain every gas station you can find, because, you know, gas is going up markedly on April 1st, and the foolish battle between Alberta and the feds continue.
00:22:32.460So is that the day you're going to start taking the C train then?
00:22:34.660No, because my, well, no, my commute is going to be screwed for the next 18 months while the city of Calgary fixes a bridge.
00:22:43.740It's going to take them 15 months, 16, 17 months to fix a bridge, for God's sake.
00:22:52.240Yeah, the Empire State Building was built, you know, almost 100 years ago in a matter of a year.
00:22:57.120Calgary can't rehabilitate a bridge in less than a year and a half.
00:23:00.760Yeah, we've got some issues here that may need some.
00:23:03.580Please, Premier Smith, move in, take over the bridge, at least.
00:23:08.220But this carbon tax, I mean, it's really, it's turning into quite a battle.
00:23:12.580I mean, the government's pulling out all the stops.
00:23:14.600They've got this lineup of university economists now to all come out together and say that they love the carbon tax and it's good for Canadians and blah, blah, blah.
00:30:41.960But, you know, she's got aches and pains,
00:30:45.440and, you know, is uncomfortable all the time.
00:30:48.120It's just, you know, that's where we get into some of these discussions.
00:30:53.820I mean, it was also such a complicated realm.
00:30:59.000We speak of somebody, then, if they're an adult and have their physiological faculties, let's face it, if you really want to end it, it's not that hard.
00:31:06.460And people sadly do quite often through a number of means, you know, their pills or whatever other creative ways people unfortunately choose their end in their lives.
00:31:18.120do you necessarily need the state to do it? I mean, again, if somebody's in a physiologically
00:31:26.120restrained condition, they can't even get out of a bed, they're in agony. I mean, that's a whole
00:31:29.880different ballpark, but we're talking about people that are quite able, and I'm not suggesting that
00:31:34.180she should do it herself. I'm just saying that though, why now do we have this responsibility
00:31:39.000of our health system and the state then to facilitate it? That's a quagmire. It really is
00:31:43.400quagmire and uh you know i feel so sorry for the father and uh and you hope it works out well
00:31:49.480well for the family and uh you know they're the test case and uh you know we haven't even got to
00:31:54.280the mentally ill part yet i mean that's coming that's coming down the road and in the next year
00:31:59.480or so when mentally ill people can take the choice we've got poor people who want to commit suicide0.70
00:32:05.960now because they can't afford the cost of housing and should that be allowed uh you know we we lead
00:32:11.880the world in medically-assisted suicides.
00:32:41.500The last year for which we have the numbers, I think it was 2022, 15,000 medical-assisted dying cases,
00:32:52.520only about 3,500 of the regular old-fashioned suicide.
00:32:57.820And it's been a steady 3,500 to 4,000 for the last 10 years,
00:33:04.080which is kind of as much of a statistics Canada as I've gone back.
00:33:07.800And in that time, they've gone from zero medical assistance in dying to almost four times as many people taking medical assistance in dying as are committing suicide by other means.
00:33:25.040You know, build it and they will come.
00:33:27.280Well, yeah, and then people have been encouraging it.
00:33:29.000Cases we've seen, there was a gentleman who did have some serious conditions.
00:33:32.000That was a few years ago, and he actually recorded it on his phone.
00:33:34.740he was in a hospital where the nurse was pretty much making it clear you know you're not going
00:33:39.620to recover you're in terrible discomfort you really should be considering this did she tell
00:33:44.900them that should they needed the bed as well well that was probably the underlying part of it you
00:33:49.460know for a cold person who's looking at it you know well this guy's a goner in three weeks why
00:33:54.100don't we just speed it up so we could put somebody else in it but somebody who might not have been
00:33:59.300considering it previously when you get somebody making the pitch to you then there's a better
00:34:04.340chance you're going to embrace it when perhaps you might know we've got veterans affairs people
00:34:08.980telling veterans hey have you considered yeah how ludicrous it's also a big issue right now
00:34:15.140in great britain where they don't have legally assisted suicide so the british people who want
00:34:20.580to kill themselves have to fly to uh switzerland have it done in the clinic there and there's all
00:34:25.940sorts of videoed uh handheld videoed people dying and saying their last message please you know
00:34:32.260England, let's get on this, let's do this in England, bring in a law so we can have medically0.93
00:34:37.540assisted suicide in England, and that's their farewell to the world, and off they go. It's0.98
00:34:42.900becoming a huge political issue over there as well. Yeah, well, this will chew through more of
00:34:49.180the courts, and there's not going to be any easy decisions. It's just one of those many times I'm
00:34:53.040not envying a judge. I mean, you've also got an adult woman, even though she is living with her0.96
00:34:57.240father, there's a degree of autonomy. You know, you never stop being a parent, we know that.
00:35:03.000But from the legal perspective, he doesn't really have any legal standing when it comes to her
00:35:08.920her disposition, unless he can find her mentally incapable of her.
00:35:13.640Yeah, unless with the courts of rule, she can do what she wants.0.61
00:35:17.800No, this, we have to talk about it in dispassionate terms, but this is always a horribly
00:35:25.800personal and deeply deeply distressing discussion between whoever's involved i i do sympathize
00:35:35.840with people who are dealing with a person who wants to kill themselves and they themselves
00:35:41.580are torn because on the one side they can understand and empathize with the pain and
00:35:46.040distress of the person who wants to go and at the same time unless it's truly a an als last
00:35:55.160week of life situation, it's hard to get on board with the idea of facilitating their farewell.
00:36:01.960It is, and again, we'll have those. I mean, now that they've moved into the realm of the mental
00:36:06.560health issues, we've gone beyond the physiological. But I'll finish with just a bit on personal. You
00:36:12.060guys kind of know, I share a bit, but my father has been debilitated. Mental health issues,
00:36:17.400very serious. And he's very paranoid. He's quite, unfortunately, delusional in a lot of things. He's
00:36:23.740doing okay physically for someone his age, but he's miserable. He is living in misery. He just
00:36:30.460stares out a window all day. He truly feels that the world is out to kill him and things such as
00:36:37.100that. And he lives in terror. Every knock on the door is the one who's going to take him out.
00:36:42.660I'm not saying that I'd like to see that option applied to him, but I am kind of seeing how
00:36:49.080horrible a life is when a mental health issue can still be quite agonizing if
00:36:54.840you're enduring it and living within that weird world of a non-reality I mean
00:36:59.460offering that that way out I don't see is appropriate but it's weird for us to
00:37:04.080put ourselves in the shoes of others to to dismiss well it's just a mental
00:37:07.860health issue okay but that can be pretty horrible to endure as well it can but
00:37:12.900you know we i hope this comes out right we don't structure our world to accommodate people with a0.70
00:37:21.940broken leg because we hope that the leg will be healed and to define end-of-life issues
00:37:32.740in terms of people who are mentally ill